RECAP: Blues 4, Panthers 1

SUNRISE, Fla. – The goals were once again a bit too hard to come by for the Florida Panthers during a 4-1 loss to the St. Louis Blues at Amerant Bank Arena on Thursday.

Still in a good position at 18-12-2, the Panthers are fighting through their first rough patch of the season, losing four of their last five games while being outscored 12-6.

But if the chances keep coming, the Cats are confident they’ll bounce back soon.

“I understand that we’re behind it a little bit,” Panthers head coach Paul Maurice said. “We’re not feeling particularly fresh right now, and that’s fine. But we’ve just got to just deal with it. We’ll deal with it. We’ll talk about it and the language won’t all be clean because that’s not the way we play.”

In the first period, neither team found the back of the net. That being said, the Panthers had the majority of the chances. After 20 minutes, they led 9-5 in shots on goal, 15-8 in shot attempts and 2-0 in high-danger shots attempts, per NaturalStatTrick.com.

If not for the post, they also would’ve had a goal or two.

After coming up empty on a 3-on-1 rush, the Blues broke the ice on the follow-up attempt when Jordan Kyrou took a pass from Robert Thomas and beat Sergei Bobrovsky with a shot from the bottom of the left circle to make it 1-0 at 4:50.

Moment later, the Blues appeared to double their lead when Pavel Buchnevich scored on a give-and-go. But after a challenge from the Panthers, the goal quickly came off the board after officials determined that St. Louis had entered the zone offside.

Unfortunately, the Blues got it right back.

Luring Bobrovsky out of his crease, Buchnevich doubled the lead – for real this time – for St. Louis when he lifted a backhander into the back of the net to make it 2-0 at 7:46.

“Tonight, we gave up a few too many odd-man rushes and couldn’t find a way to put the puck in the net,” Florida defenseman Aaron Ekblad said. “That’s what happens.”

After a series of close calls and a few more posts, the Panthers were finally rewarded with some well-deserved puck luck. Attempting to get the puck into the zone, Eetu Luostarinen instead found the back of the cage to cut the deficit to 2-1 at 13:47.

On the play, Luostarinen's entry pass went off the curved part of the glass at the end of the bench. Thinking the puck would rim around the boards as it always does, Blues goaltender Joel Hofer came out to play it behind the net, leaving the cage exposed.

“A weird bounce,” Luostarinen said. “Every goal counts.”

But the elation would be short-lived for the Panthers.

Less than three minutes later, the Blues regained their two-goal cushion when Alexey Toropchenko got to the net and deftly tipped a point shot from Marco Scandella through Bobrovsky’s five-hole to make it 3-1 at 16:43.

Early in the third period, the Panthers appeared to get it back to a one-goal game when Ryan Lomberg tipped in a shot from Nick Cousins. Unfortunately, the goal came off the board after officials deemed that Lomberg’s stick was just a touch too high on the tip.

With just under six minutes left in regulation, the Panthers, who were on the penalty kill at the time, missed a chance to gain a late boost when a clear high-stick on Sam Bennett was not called despite the incident occurring in view of a nearby official.

When it rains, eh?

After pulling Bobrovsky for a 6-on-5 advantage in search of a goal, Buchnevich cashed in on the empty net with a long shot down the ice for the Blues to make it 4-1 at 6:51.

Bobrovsky finished with 19 saves, while Hofer made 38.

At 5-on-5, Florida led 3.44-1.33 in expected goals, per NaturalStatTrick.com.

“It’s a really good example of why you can’t play a rush game because you don’t have to give up a lot of chances,” Maurice said. “We gave up five probably in the second period and they scored three of them. I’m not looking at Sergei Bobrovsky on any of them. They’re all turnovers at the line because we want to play the rush game going that way.”

THEY SAID IT

“When you’re in situations like this it’s important to just stay together, not get frustrated with each other or with the game. Our team game is a defense-first game. That’s something we have to stick with that’ll guide our way out of this.” – Aaron Ekblad

“Did [St. Louis] have a lot of chances? No. But the ones they had were so big that it’s not equal. The number doesn’t matter. The quality’s different. We gave up a bunch of them.” – Paul Maurice

“I think we were getting chances. It’s not going our way. We’re just getting frustrated a little bit. We’re forcing plays and it’s costing us.” – Eetu Luostarinen

CATS STATS

- The Panthers led 11-3 in shot attempts at 5-on-5 when Kevin Stenlund was on the ice.

- Aleksander Barkov went 14-for-17 (82.4%) in the faceoffs circle.

- Niko Mikkola led the Panthers with three hits.

- Carter Verhaeghe fired off a team-high seven shots on goal.

- Sergei Bobrovsky made three high-danger saves.

WHAT’S NEXT?

There’s one more chance to catch the Cats before the holiday.

In a rematch from last year’s Stanley Cup Final, the Panthers will host the Vegas Golden Knights for a matinee matchup at Amerant Bank Arena on Saturday at 3 p.m. ET.

For tickets, click HERE.